


The Last Rebel

by Embersalamander



Series: Morning War fics [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Rannoch, geth rebellions, geth war, morning war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-28
Updated: 2014-01-28
Packaged: 2018-01-10 10:04:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1158328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Embersalamander/pseuds/Embersalamander
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The final moments of the last geth sympathizer at the end of the Morning War</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Last Rebel

“Mom, it hurts.”

Zaheria caressed her daughter’s forehead, the dark hair strands dripping with sweat stick to her face like serpents. She was trying to fix her cloudy eyes on her mother, but her eyelids felt so heavy.

“Shh, don’t worry. You’ll get well in no time.”

The small girl finally closed her eyes and rested her head against the geth who was holding her in its arms. They had run out of medi-gel and the wound on the girl’s side was gushing blood even after the improvised bandages had been applied.

“Temperature increasing, heart-rate irregular.” said the geth who was holding the girl.

Zaheria nodded in silence. Most geth had already retreated to let their creators leave Rannoch. But she needed to get her daughter to safety before it was too late. They arrived at the ruins of what some time ago might have been a small prefab house. Hiding behind the debris she watched the quarians that, some meters from them, were boarding a spaceship, one of the last ones that remained in the homeworld. Four soldiers holding guns were scouting the nearby terrain, ensuring the safety of the last civilians who were able to board on the ships to exile. Zaheria narrowed her eyes at this.

She took the little girl on her arms and remembered how just a year ago she had been singing her lullabies and suddenly she had found herself running down the streets with the little girl in her arms after witnessing her husband being shot to death. By his own people.

The girl opened her glazed eyes and Zaheria caressed her sweaty face and hummed a song until she fell asleep again. She turned towards the geth.

“You are going to stand down. When they have her and she’s safe, then you retreat. Don’t attack anyone or make any move towards them. No matter what they do. Only help us if they want to hurt her.”

“But Creator Zaheria, you are registered as a sympathizer. You will be executed.”

“Stand down. This is the only order I’m giving you.” She stood up. “Take care.”

Zaheria turned and jumped over the debris, walking towards the quarians. Behind her she heard a metallic voice.

“Likewise, Creator Zaheria.”

Swallowing, she walked slowly and limping, still humming to her child. When she got near the spaceship, they aimed their guns at her but quickly lowered them when they saw she was one of them.

“My daughter is wounded! I need to carry her to safety!” she shouted at them.

One of them quickly checked his onmi-tool and stepped towards her.

“You are Zaheria’Len, and you are registered as a sympathizer. We have also detected several mobile platforms not far from here. We request that you surrender them.”

She stared at him defiantly.

“You are only three armed men. You have no chance against them and they will not attack you, unless you hurt my daughter.”

“I’ll take that as a confession. Treason is punishable by-“

“She has nothing to do with it!” she screamed. Her daughter’s body was starting to feel heavy and her legs were giving up, but still, trembling, she stood in front of them. “She wasn’t shot by the geth, she was shot by one of you! A little girl! They helped me take her to safety and yet you claim to be better than them?!”

A tense silence followed. For what felt like an eternity, the only sound was her child’s laborious breathing. Then the soldier made a sign and one of them approached her. Zaheria placed her daughter carefully in his arms, whispering “thank you” over and over. She held her breath until she saw how they started to heal her wounds and find a suit for her. In a moment, her daughter woke up and she could hear her weak voice.

“Mom? Mom!” when she saw her mother the girl stretched her arms, trying to reach her.

“Be good sweetie! You’re going to be okay!” she shouted, her voice breaking at the end of the sentence.

Please don’t let her see this. She silently pleaded, and sighed with relief when they took her inside the spaceship and out of sight. When the guns were aimed at her again, she raised her hands, stained with the blood of her daughter.

“As I was saying, you have helped geth in the slaughtering of our people. This is considered treason which is punishable by death.”  
“Cut the chatter.” She spitted between her teeth. “My husband was killed without a single word. We are reaping what we have sown. I don’t need your political lies.”

With no other words, the quarian raised his arm and she heard the clicks of the guns.

“Stand down…” she muttered under her breath.

And she heard no sound. So they hadn’t moved. All her children were safe and sound. She smiled at the thought.

When the soldier lowered his arm, she lowered her eyelids.


End file.
